After decades of dreaming about it, years demanding it, and months arguing about it, the Playoff Era is finally here. The old BCS system would have produced a National Championship Game of #1 Florida State (only undefeated) and #2 Alabama (SEC Champion), but with both of those squads losing in the National Semifinals, the new system is instantly validated.
This offseason, we will take the role of the Selection Committee and look at how every BCS season (1998-2013) would have played out in the current College Football Playoff setup. As a staff, we will analyze, debate, and ultimately select the 4 most deserving teams and seed them #1 through #4. Once the bracket is set, we will throw the historical matchups into the game simulator over at What If Sports, a complex algorithm that simulates any matchup of teams from 1996 to the present. We will simulate each matchup 25 times for a more accurate sample size, and report the series results and average score. How different would the college football landscape look if the 4-team playoff had come 16 years sooner? Would the SEC still have held the crystal trophy for 7 straight seasons? Would Oregon have a championship by now? How would the famous #3 teams such as 2000 Miami, 2003 USC, 2004 Auburn, and 2011 Oklahoma State fare with a shot at glory? Would the BCS busters prove themselves? Let the games begin - here's what should have been: 2011 SEASON BACKGROUND & SELECTION COMMITTEE This would have been another good year for the playoff. Alabama and LSU certainly looked like the two best teams in the country, but naturally the other conferences were a little peeved that nobody else had a chance for the National Title. Oklahoma State was dominant in the Big XII with only one upset loss to Iowa State. The Pac-12 had three very good teams in Stanford, USC, and Oregon. Stanford lost to Oregon 53-30 and beat USC in 3OT. Oregon lost to LSU in the opening week by 13 and to USC by 3. USC destroyed cross-town rival UCLA 50-0 but failed to win its division because of an NCAA postseason ban. Oregon not only won its division, but won the Pac-12 Title, which we felt was the perfect tie-breaker in this scenario. Not to mention, the debate would have really come down to the Andrew Luck-led Stanford team and Oregon, and while head-to-head has proven to be a minor concern by the real-life committee, a 53-30 win would probably do more for Oregon than an improbable comeback did for Baylor in 2014.
2011 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
In a rematch of the first week of the season, Oregon gets its redemption over the Tigers. It is so difficult to beat a good team twice, and that old adage rang true in the first round of the Playoff. Darron Thomas would have had his moment of glory before riding off into the sunset after declaring for the NFL Draft after the season, only to go undrafted. The Ducks squeaked by the Tigers 13 simulations to 12, winning by an average of less than three points.
The Crimson Tide handled Justin Blackmon and the Cowboys two out of every three games. Alabama won the first game emphatically 52-20 before the series evened out a little bit. When the Tide won, it won big, defeating the Cowboys by an average of about 10 points. The eventual National Champions proved they were no fluke. One of the all-time great defenses, Alabama limited the high-powered Oregon attack to only 22 points per game. The real story was the offense, led by Trent Richardson and a great offensive line, which averaged 38 points per game on way to a 21-4 series win. In our simulated College Football Playoffs, and in real life, this was the Tide's second title in three years. 
LINKS to our other CFB Simulation Features:
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